Tsukune

Tsukune (つくね、捏、捏ね) is a Japanese chicken meatball most often cooked yakitori style (but can be fried or baked) and sometimes covered in a sweet soy or yakitori "tare", which is often mistaken for teriyaki sauce.

Summary

Thickeners are added to ground material such as beef, pork or fowl and occasionally fish. The mixture is kneaded or ground and is molded into a dumpling or skewer.

It also refers to a fish meatball, which is added to hot soup and called Tsumire-jiru (つみれ汁), or fish ball soup. Tsukune is also enjoyed as Tsukune Nabe, a Japanese steamboat dish with local varieties found in regions in Japan.

Traditionally, a fish fillet was ground using Suribachi (すり鉢（すりばち or 擂鉢)) grinding-bowl in Japan, but blenders are now typically used.

Preparation

Thickeners such as egg, crushed yam and bread crumbs are added after the meat is mashed or minced finely, along with seasonings such as ground ginger root, salt and soy sauce. The mixture is shaped into dumplings or meat sticks.

Finely chopped garden vegetables are mixed into the minced meat to taste. Vegetables and herbs such as leek Negi (ねぎ), beefsteak plant Aojiso (青紫蘇) also called Oba (大葉), and at times, chopped cartilage of fowl tori nankotsu (鶏軟骨) may be added to create a crunchy texture.

Commonly, Tsukune is found in Oden (おでん or 田楽(でんがく)), a Japanese stew consisting of several ingredients in a light dashi (出汁（だし）) broth. Both Oden and Tsumire-jiru occur in regional varieties.

Tsukune is not always prepared from livestock. Similarly, Tsumire (つみれ) is not always prepared from fish. Tsukune is matched with Tsumire, and they may be called generally as gan (丸（がん）) meaning minced meat in round shape.

Variety

boil: Nabe (鍋物), or a dish cooked at the table.
broil: Yakimono (焼き物), broiled or char-broiled dishes, including barbecued meatball.
fry: Agemono (揚げ物) or deep-fry.
stew: Tsuyumono (汁物（つゆもの） or 団子汁（だんごじる）), or stewed with vegetables and herbs.

Summary

Preparation

Variety

See also